Heading into the NBA All Star break it appears to be a three-man race for the 2018-19 NBA MVP Award.
Among the three is Oklahoma City Thunder All Star forward Paul George, who recently went off for 47 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists during a victory against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Following OKC's 120-111 win, Lillard spoke about the MVP-caliber run that PG has been on this year.
Lillard says (H/T ESPN's Royce Young):
"He's on a different level. After watching him over the last 10 games or so, I catch a lot of their games, and then seeing him tonight, that dude is MVP. If they keep this up, he's MVP."
Evan Turner also described George as being on "a completely different level," and labeled him "the best that we probably went up against all year."
"It was unreal. Everybody is going crazy for Giannis and James. Everybody I probably went up against, and no disrespect to other teams, they're unbelievable, Paul is the best that we probably went up against all year. He's at a completely different level. It's hard to even explain... He's just in a great groove. He's in a great groove. He's playing great. They're on a roll. I've never performed at an MVP level, I've seen a few, but he's an MVP in my personal opinion."
Through 55 games this season, George is averaging a career-high 28.7 points, 8 rebounds and 4.1 assists to go along with a career-high 2.3 steals per game.